Limiting phone calls - Yeah Right!

[Andy]

Today I received a phone call from one of the large politcal parties:

Party in Blue
Me in Green

"Hello, may I speak with Mr. B?"
"He is not here, may I take a message?"

"Is Mrs. B. in?"
"I am Mrs. B."

"I am so and so from the __________ party. We are calling to thank you for your past donations and would like to ask of another donation of $_________" (Wondering if husband really gave that amount or the party thinks we will forget and want us to send that amount instead of a lesser amount husband may have given?)
"You need to call back and talk to Mr. B."

"We need funds so we can (slams oppossing party)"
"You need to call back and talk to Mr. B." (Is it possible that fundraising organizations are difficult children also? They don't listen better than our kids.)

"We are limiting our calls.
"Oh, I am sure we will get lots more calls and mailings!" (Yes, I said exactly that.)

Maybe you can make a donation that your husband can increase later?"
"No, I don't give to anyone or anything. You have to call back and talk to husband. Good bye." CLICK

Now, let's see if political calls from a certain party will be limited? I think it is time to start screening my calls - I hate the rude interruptions into my house begging for money even if it is a cause I support.

I would think after all these years this party would have a note in their files, "Do not talk to Mrs. B. She is mean and will give nothing. If you want something, ask Mr. B. who Mrs. B claims is allowed to do whatever he wants with the household income."

 

[mrscatinthehat]

Oh aren't these so much fun. I like to tell them that if that is the case send me the information in the mail. They try to argue around that one too. sounds like you did a good job with them.

beth

 

[Marguerite]

I remember reading a MAD magazine article on things to do with unwanted telephone solicitors.
Some of these are illegal (now) such as blowing a whistle down the phone line. But you can always do other things like hand the phone to the baby. Another one was to draw up a chart of who has rung, and have a stopwatch handy. You say to the person, "Oh, no! The pot is boiling over!"and drop the phone onto the kitchen bench. Then start the stopwatch and wait until you hear the CLICK that means they finally gave up and hung up.

The thing I do now - I hope it could work for you - I ask to be removed from their database. We now have a "do not call" register in Australia. This doesn't stop calls from organisations you're a member of, or companies you're a customer of, but it should stop marketing calls and random sales calls. It won't stop calls from companies tat use a random dialler but we do have the capacity to make complaints against such companies - I had one a few weeks ago which was ringing my mobile phone every hour, hanging up after less than one ring. One day I was able to answer it and amazingly, this time there was a person on the other end. I told that person that I had already filed complaints of harassment because all the calls had made me afraid that I was being stalked. As a result, I did not want to have anything to do with a company who would use such marketing tactics and he would do well to get himself another job rather than work for a company which used such underhanded marketing tactics that it would be shut down by either lack of business, or legal action. I also said I wasn't sure how much legal protection he would have personally, if he was at all party to this type of phone tactic.

I said that people often feel vulnerable and afraid when they get phone call after phone call with nobody on the other end, or when it hangs up as they answer. This can cause serious harm to some people and is an offence.

I've had no more phone calls from that company. A relief.

But where they will not give up - I had a company ring one day trying to sell me aluminium cladding. I had received calls from this company before and said I wasn't interested. So this time - I let the guy talk. I even tried to sound faintly interested. I watched the clock. After about twenty minutes of this young bloke explaining how aluminium cladding could give us better insulation (sound and temperature) as well as improve the look of our home, and me asking for detailed descriptions of the rang of finishes and colours, I finally asked my clincher question - "How do you go about attaching aluminium cladding to a face brick exterior? We live in a brick home."

He hung up on me!

Marg

 

[Andy]

Usually I do say, "Not interested - take us off your list" but this is an organization that I know husband supports so did not want to cut the ties. Usually when I tell the other person that they need to talk to husband about whatever, they respect that and call back later. Once I say it is husband's decision, I do not want to continue the conversation.

 

[Marguerite]

Andy, I'd be telling husband about this caller's persistence. He might either talk to someone at the organisation, or reconsider his support.

Or failing that, he can always support them in other ways and still have a "do not call" on his home phone.

husband refuses to deal with ay organisation over the phone. if someone wants our business, they can send us a letter or make contact in some other way. That's our standard response to a phone call - if the call sounds interesting, we ask them to post us information. Failure to go along with this tells us they're not worth doing business with.

Sounds harsh but it saves us a lot of grief.

I really hate how so many of these calls come in during the evening rush - between about 5.30 pm and 8.30 pm. And they wonder why I don't want to talk to them?

A lot of the Aussie marketing has been shipped offshore, we now get a lot of these marketing calls from India. The trouble is, there is a few seconds' delay before the phone call comes through. I answer the phone and hear - nothing. Silence. Then about two seconds later, a voice comes on, often thickly accented, with "Good afternoon ma'am, how are you today? Good. My name is Bruce [or other iconic 'Aussie bloke' name], I'm calling from [unintelligible company name]. Please an I speaking to Mr or Mrs Marg?..." and thus begins the sales pitch. I never get a word in edgewise, even when they ask how I am. I could say at tat point, "I don't want to talk right now," and they will still answer according to their script with, "I'm glad you are well today. My name is..."
If I hang up, they will just call back. I need to get a word in to tell them that I do not want to do business with them, and then they ARGUE about it, tell me that I am making a wrong decision! I have found I need to actually justify, to THEM, why I do not want to do business. ie I already have ten of those items (usually time-share). Or I am locked into the same phone contract for the next fifty years but don't worry, your company will be the first I will call when I am free of this contract in forty nine years and ten months, assuming I still have any memory cells left...

Failure to get the message through will result in more calls form this company, again at inconvenient times, until I DO succeed in getting them to leave me alone.

easy child 2/difficult child 2 chooses to handle such calls by being bizarre. She will quietly listen, giggle occasionally, and when they finally pause for breath and to ask her opinion, she says, "I'm not allowed to drink cola... *giggle*" or "I'm wearing new socks. Wanna see them?"

They usually hang up on her.

Marg

 

[witzend]

So, have you seen that T-Mobile commercial where the mom is on the computer setting Missy up with more minutes if she gets on honor role, and junior gets more minutes if he gets good grades, and the kids are outside the picture window "washing the car"? The kids are cat-fighting and the girl is shoving the hose down the boy's shorts and dad is asking "Can you take minutes away, too?" as the soapy water bucket slams into the window and the car rolls down the driveway into the street and hits something. It's a riot!